BJP’s troubleshooter in the northeast and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who stepped in to save the troubled NPP-BJP government in Manipur, said on Wednesday that Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party will continue to support the BJP-led government in Manipur.
This comes after a meeting of Sangma and deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, Y Joy Kumar Singh with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda in Delhi.
“Both BJP and NPP will continue to work together for the development of Manipur,” Himanta Biswa said in a tweet.
NPP’s Manipur unit went rogue and threatened to join the Congress-led alliance if there is no change of Chief Minister in the state.
As the week-long hectic political tussle continued in Manipur, in a new twist, all four MLAs of ruling BJP ally NPP, who withdrew their support to the saffron party-led government last week, were on Tuesday evening rushed to Delhi ostensibly to crack the differences between the coalition partners.
The four National People’s Party (NPP) legislators left Imphal on Tuesday afternoon after three-day parleys between Meghalaya Chief Minister and NPP national President Conrad K Sangma, Assam Minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, state BJP, NPP and other leaders.
Along with the four-member NPP, Trinamool Congress, which has one MLA, and an Independent candidate withdrew their support from the N Biren Singh-led coalition government, while three BJP MLAs joined the Congress on June 17, causing a political crisis in the state.
While Sarma claims that the two parties will continue to work together in Manipur, suggesting the problem is averted, it is however unclear whether it means that Chief Minister Biren Singh will be replaced or not.
While, Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed to bring a “permanent solution” to the recurring political turmoil in Manipur, before he flew in to the national capital, what remains unclear is how far that has been achieved and whether that has been achieved at the cost of a leadership change in the state of Manipur, something that the BJP has so far avoided.
So far the Biren Singh government has sounded defiant, thwarting efforts of the Congress which has been demanding a special session of the assembly to bring a no confidence motion against his government.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday expressed confidence that the N Biren Singh-led government in Manipur would complete its five-year term till 2022.
Madhav, who is the BJP in-charge for northeast states, said that though the stability issues of the state government are being raised for the past one year. It has been found that the coalition ministry in Manipur has always been stable and winning elections.
“Take it from me, BJP-led government is stable and will continue till the next assembly elections in 2022,” Madhav told the media immediately after his arrival in Manipur capital Imphal.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, Congress became the single largest party securing 28 seats, but the BJP, which managed 21 seats, stitched a coalition government with the support of four NPP members, four Naga People’s Front MLAs, the lone TMC MLA and an Independent member.
The seven Congress MLAs had also subsequently joined the BJP. Demanding disqualification of the seven MLAs, the Congress in January this year had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, which had asked the Speaker to take appropriate steps. The disqualification case under the anti-defection law is still pending in the Manipur High Court.